LOCATION: TWO JUMPS FROM XIN PRIME

SYSTEM: UNKNOWN

Vitor went over the update that Alex had sent to them, as they sat idly a few jumps from the enemy stronghold. The news wasn't good. Despite their best efforts, the Union fleet had been unable to cut off the Xin forces before they managed to reinforce Xin Prime. If it had been only the twenty-five Shican vessels to deal with, they might have had a chance, but there was no way the remains of their fleet could handle the Shican vessels along with over five hundred Xin warships, no matter how outdated they were.

The gate was offline, and two of the enemy's capital ships were damaged, so that was something, but who knows how long that would last? The Shican had brought it online once; they could likely do it again. He had also received unconfirmed reports that the STO had failed to hold the Xin forces in place on their border, and another fleet of over two hundred was coming in to try to cut off their retreat. If the enemy struck at the right time, they could prevent the fleet from jumping.

Avoiding those ships wouldn't be too hard, but it highlighted just how bad things had gone. The war hadn't even officially started yet, and humanity was already on the back foot, thanks to a group of traitors.

"The STO should have hunted down Xin and his defectors immediately," Vitor growled.

Vitor's comm pinged, and he accepted the incoming call. Lagertha Char popped up on the holo. She looked just as unhappy as he felt.

"Going by your sour expression, I take it you've finished Alex's report?" Vitor asked.

"I have. And while it galls me to do so, I'm going to order the fleet back to the border."

"So it's over, just like that?" Vitor asked, setting down the tablet.

"No. I plan on taking Grimnir's Fang to the enemy stronghold and ensuring that the gate cannot be reactivated."

"Suicide? That's your plan?"

"Hardly," the woman scoffed. "I have a few of Kane's missiles aboard, tipped with nukes. I'm going to jump in and cold launch them. Then I'm going to activate my comm node and draw the Shican to me."

"How is that not suicide?" Vitor stated.

"Suicide is the act of giving up. I'll be fighting until the end and taking as many of those bastards with me as I can. Unless you have a better idea?"

Vitor did, but it meant putting someone he cared for in the same situation that Char was proposing. He knew if he didn't mention it, the Shican might be able to reactivate the gate before they could attempt a second mission. With great reluctance, he laid out his plan. "Transfer the nukes to the Kyuubi no Kitsune. It has the best chance of getting close to the gate without getting spotted, ensuring the missiles have the greatest opportunity of reaching the target."

Char leaned back in her chair and pondered the option. "If Voss is detected, that ship won't stand up for very long against incoming fire, even with Kane's magical stealth armor. I proposed taking Fang because I knew it could take a beating long enough to launch the missiles even if the enemy spots us immediately. That being said, your plan has some merit. I think we can improve Captain Voss's odds by adding a distraction."

"What sort of distraction?" Vitor asked, but he expected he already knew what she was implying.

"Transfer every available missile we have in the fleet to the capital ships, then we jump into the enemy system, and launch them all on a course for the gate. The enemy will be forced to act, but that should buy Voss enough of a distraction to slip in and launch the nukes. It may even allow her to slip away undetected, but let's not count on that."

"You think the Shican can detect stealth ships?" Vitor asked as he considered her proposal.

"It's best not to assume anything when it comes to those alien bastards. They have already surprised us with a few new technologies, which is why we need to distract them."

"Alright," Vitor said in agreement. "If we're going to do this, we need to hurry. The longer we delay, the more chance the enemy has to fortify their position or repair the damage we caused."

Over the next few hours, bots zipped back and forth between the tightly packed fleet, moving the missiles as quickly as possible. The Fox got four nukes as replacements, but could only fire three from its storage, so the last had to be loaded in the cargo hold and fitted on a special rack that would allow it to slide out the cargo ramp.

Vitor suggested adding the other stealth ships to the mission, but Katalynn shot down the suggestion. Her opinion was that their stealth armor was not as good as the Fox's, and if the enemy spotted them, they might reinforce security around the gate. Their risky plan only worked if the enemy thought they were throwing everything they had in a last-ditch attempt to take down the gate.

Considering how little damage conventional missiles had done during the first attack, he wasn't sure if they would be able to damage the alien structure even if they hit it with every remaining missile in the fleet, but it's all they had.

As soon as the last of the weapons were transferred, Vitor contacted Captain Ramirez.

The man saluted, "Admiral."

"At ease, Captain. I just wanted to inform you that you will be in charge of all the BSE forces until I return."

"Sir?" the man asked in confusion.

"Ramirez, you probably don't realize this, but you are the most senior captain within BSE. It's time that I recognized that. I've already sent Alex my recommendation to increase your title. If we had a larger fleet to manage, I would have suggested he make you an Admiral as well."

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"I—I don't know what to say, sir."

"You don't have to say anything, Ramirez. Just keep doing your job, and get our people to the fallback point safely."

"I'll do that, sir. Sir, may I speak freely?"

Vitor nodded.

"Don't throw away your life, sir. I fear we're going to need capable leaders in the coming months."

Vitor smirked. "I'll do what I can. Get the fleet moving, and avoid any confrontations with the Xin fleet. Additional Union forces are staging on the border, so link up with them. Alex also has ships and resupply vessels heading there. We can't afford to let that rogue fleet push into Union space."

"We'll make them regret ever setting foot inside Union territory," Ramirez declared.

Vitor saluted the man and ended the call. By the time he returned to the tactical center, the fleets were already heading in their own directions. The Fox and the other stealth ship that joined them to act as a scout looked tiny next to the cruisers. He wished they had some Stingrays left; it would have made the mission far safer.

***

A week later, the small fleet of seven appeared in interstellar space, just outside of the Xin Prime system. The automated stealth ship separated and jumped to its designated watchpoint after waiting for its drive to reset. Once it reached its destination, it would slowly drift into the system to capture the results of the mission.

After more waiting, it was Voss's time to head out.

"You sure you're ready for this?" Vitor asked over the laser link.

"I'll be honest," Kaela said. "I enjoy the thrill of battle, but this whole war stuff is a bit much. Having four nukes aboard my ship also makes me extremely nervous. I'll be glad when they're gone."

"You're avoiding the question," Vitor said.

She looked like she was going to get angry with him, before deflating slightly. "We'll be fine, it's not like we have much of a choice, but thanks for asking."

"Good luck," he added.

"You too," she said, before reaching over and ending the connection.

The Fox jumped shortly after, getting into its position as well. Much like the automated ship, Kaela would be drifting into the system, but at a much higher velocity.

More waiting followed until he received an incoming laser connection. He accepted it and was greeted by the stern-faced Lagertha.

"It's almost time to go," Char said.

Vitor nodded. "I'll alert Captain Vargthane to coordinate the jump countdown and sync."

Char gave a single nod before she cut the connection.

The cruisers would be jumping in a light hour from the hypergate. They needed to launch and deploy all of their missiles before their jump signature reached the Shican. Considering the aliens had the ability to detect active comm nodes, it was safe to assume they might be able to do the same for jumps.

Thankfully, warp drives only affected gravity in normal space, so the signature only moved at light speed.

Vitor heard the drive power up and then stabilize, signifying they had jumped. Timing was everything in this mission.

The four cruisers popped back into normal space a light hour from the gate and well clear of any celestial bodies that might prevent them from leaving. They immediately got to work launching the stealth missiles. It was going to take at least ten minutes to empty their magazines. In the meantime, bots were practically shoving missiles out of the hangars aboard each ship. To add to the ones they were launching.

Those missiles had to fire off their drives and orient on the target, but once they were set, they went cold once more.

The ships soon emptied, but they didn't leave right away. Instead, they stuck around, only moving away from their emergence point so the enemy couldn't jump directly on top of them.

The Shican would likely detect their arrival long before the missiles arrived, so part of the distraction was using themselves as bait. They waited most of the hour before they jumped to a new location, a light hour from their previous, and still a light hour from the gate.

They wouldn't know if the enemy had jumped to their previous location, but that was fine. If they managed to pull ships away from the massive cordon around the gate, all the better.

Over the next eight hours, they repeated their jumps. By then, they could see a change in movement from around the gate. They had also changed up their jump pattern, closing the range to a half-light hour, which turned out to be the right choice, as enemy ships started appearing along their previous course.

"Only two more jumps," Vitor said under his breath.

If they could remain ahead of the enemy for just two more jumps, the missiles would arrive.

Luck was not on their side. Their next jump brought them nearly on top of a group of ten Xin destroyers.

The enemy ships didn't last long under the assault of the Union cruisers, but they managed to disrupt the gravity in the area temporarily by overloading their gravity plating.

More ships started to appear, to try and surround them, but the BSE and Union ships accelerated beyond the gravitational disturbance and jumped right before the noose tightened.

When they appeared again, they were back outside the system.

Their job was done; the rest was up to Kaela.

***

Kaela couldn't recall sweating this much, even during her first capture mission as a fresh-faced bounty hunter. "How much longer, Omari?" She could have pulled up the timer herself, but she didn't want to obsess over a countdown clock, so she had restricted it to her pilot's console.

"The fleet's missiles should be impacting in twenty seconds."

She nodded and pressed the intercom button. "Marle, get ready to eject the missile."

The Kitsune wasn't large enough to fit the missile and the repair bot inside the hold, so they had to transfer their bot over to Vanguard. Without space for a fourth missile in the missile storage or a bot to eject the missile, the weapon had to be ejected from the ship by hand. Technically, it would be by lever, since even with the gravity plating in the cargo bay turned off, the missile was still a lot of mass to move.

She tried hard not to think about that as she waited for Marle's reply.

"Copy that, Captain. I'm suited up and standing by at the lever. As soon as you open the ramp, I'll dump our passenger."

"Detonations detected amongst the enemy fleet," Taigo declared. "Should I fire now?"

"Wait. Give them time to engage with the threat."

A full minute passed as more and more missiles slammed into the Xin ships, while they tried to stop them. The Shican ships were closer to the gate and hadn't engaged with the oncoming ordnance yet. Once they did, that would be when she launched.

She watched the scanner like a hawk, and the moment she spotted the flash of the Shican's plasma weapons, she gave the order. "Launch the missiles."

The three missiles left the tube, accelerating away under the power of the launcher. She didn't see the last one, however.

"Marle, why isn't the last missile out of my ship yet?"

"Sorry, boss," the man grunted. "The mechanism is giving me some problems. I… almost… have… it. Missile is free, boss."

She motioned for Omari to change course as the last missile pulsed its engines to bring it in line with the gate.

That turned out to be the right choice as a series of lasers flickered through the area they had just occupied, impacting the fourth missile. The missile broke apart, and she cursed. "Jump us out of here!"

The ship rocked as more strikes impacted the hull right before they jumped.

***

After the Kitsune jumped, the lone remaining Swordfish watched as the enemy tried to find and intercept the rest of the munitions. A second nuke soon followed the first, and then it was joined by a third, which detonated, letting out a blinding flash that swamped the Swordfish's sensors for a moment. Once its sensors cleared, it saw parts of the hypergate missing and other sections spinning away.

The last nuke had reached the target. The Swordfish reported the success of the mission through the comm node before instantly jumping. It deactivated the node to prevent any chance of being tracked and would take multiple short jumps before rejoining the fleet.